D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Acquires New Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 83,722 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,421,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.09% of Avient as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Avient by 56.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 695 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avient during the fourth quarter worth about $90,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Avient in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Avient by 47.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,090 shares of the company's stock valued at $167,000 after buying an additional 1,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Point Inc. increased its holdings in Avient by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 5,164 shares of the company's stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 985 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on AVNT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Avient in a report on Friday, March 14th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Baird R W raised Avient to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Avient from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Avient from $51.00 to $41.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.80.

Avient Price Performance

Avient stock traded up $0.11 during trading on Thursday, reaching $36.13. The company had a trading volume of 421,591 shares, compared to its average volume of 550,025. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.38. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $35.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.88. Avient Co. has a 1-year low of $27.86 and a 1-year high of $54.68.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Avient had a net margin of 5.23% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The firm had revenue of $826.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $834.90 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. Avient's quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 20th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. Avient's payout ratio is currently 100.93%.

About Avient

Avient Corporation operates as a formulator of material solutions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America, and Asia. It operates in two segments, Color, Additives and Inks; and Specialty Engineered Materials. The Color, Additives and Inks segment offers custom color and additive concentrates in solid and liquid form for thermoplastics, dispersions for thermosets, and specialty inks; custom-formulated liquid system, such as polyester, vinyl, natural rubber and latex, polyurethane, and silicone; and proprietary inks.